Oct. 15, 2014 -- A second health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas is infected with Ebola.
The worker had been involved in the care of Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian citizen who flew to the U.S. late last month after being exposed to the virus. Duncan died of the disease on October 8. The worker is the second hospital employee to come down with Ebola. The first was Nina Pham, a 26-year-old critical care nurse who also treated Duncan.
According to city officials, the second woman had a fever on Tuesday. Later that day, tests showed she had the Ebola virus.
The CDC is running a second set of blood tests to confirm her diagnosis.
Few personal details about the woman have been released except that she lived alone and had no pets.
She was one of 76 health care workers who are employed by the hospital but not working because they had some kind of contact with Duncan. Those workers have been advised to keep a close eye out for early symptoms like fever, headache, and muscle pains.
CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden, MD, said Tuesday that more health care workers at the hospital may become infected after treating Duncan. “We’re setting up a place where people can move away from their families if they want to. They can also stay at home if they want,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins in a news conference on Wednesday.
“This is not going to be a situation where we’re going to put protective orders on 75 health care workers,” he said.
How Did Ebiola Virus Spread?
Hospital officials said they were unsure how the second woman had been exposed to the virus.
“It’s clear there was an exposure somewhere, sometime in their treatment of Mr. Duncan,” said Daniel Varga, MD, chief clinical officer for Texas Health Resources, the company that runs the hospital.
Varga rejected the notion that the hospital had somehow faltered in its infection control practices.
“I don’t think we have a systematic institutional problem,” he said.
“I think our ability to get these folks into isolation and manage them has been very effective. We’re looking at every possible angle around this.”
“No one wants to get this right more than our hospital,” he said.
Frieden said the CDC was reviewing how it handles Ebola cases and plans to send a team of infection control experts to hospitals treating Ebola patients.
Dallas reacted swiftly to news of the second case, said Mayor Mike Rawlings.
Cleaning of the woman’s apartment and car are underway.
Neighbors at her apartment complex on Village Bend Drive in Dallas were sent reverse 911 calls at 6:15 a.m. on Tuesday to inform them of the news.
Workers have also distributed Ebola information pamphlets throughout the complex where she lived.
“The only way we are going to beat this is person by person, moment by moment, detail by detail,” Rawlings said. “It may get worse before it gets better, but it will get better,” he said.
source : Second Dallas Hospital Worker Has Ebola
